Replay
by kaleidoscopehemospectrum
Summary: Told through the eyes of Sollux, the story of how him and a girl named Aradia met and fell in love with each other before something happened is unfolded. Human!Stuck universe. Rated T for language.
1. Prologue

"Tho, like, exactly what ith it that you want?" Sollux asked, looking at the man in front of him curiously as he held a pen and notebook in his hands.

"I really just want to hear the story of how you two met and how you fell in love and so on."

"For the um…" The blonde man motioned to the notebook and pen the other man was holding. "Thing?"

"Hm?" He looked down at the objects in his hands before nodding and looking back up. "Yes. For the thing." He chuckled a bit before regaining his straight, emotionless face and leaning back in the paisley couch.

"I don't know where to thtart."

"Well, the beginning would be nice."

"Alright. Well, I gueth that would be… When she was 18 and I was 19. Somewhere around there." Sollux took a sip of his lemonade, wiping his lips with a napkin and setting the glass in his lap, turning off the television.

"Okay." He scribbled down a few words before motioning for the blonde to continue. "Go on."

"Alright." The blonde stretched, draping his arms over the back of the couch. "It'th going to be a long night."


	2. Falling

You see, I never really got out that much unless I had to go to school. I was more into computer programming than socializing with people. Everyone at school pretty much just bullied me and made me terrified to leave the safeness of my home. Although one day, I had to get some groceries when my parents were at some sort of weird convention thing and my brother couldn't as well go. (I am not getting into that part right now.)

Alright, so I got my groceries from the store and that's when I saw her. She was sitting in the middle of an empty field, the breezes blowing her dark, long, wavy hair across her face as she stayed their completely silent with her eyes closed, just smiling. Now, no matter what you might think, this is not when I fell in love with her. This is the moment that I thought she was like the weirdest person of all time. Like, seriously, you should have seen her. A shovel was placed against a rock and it kind of looked like she was trying to get the shovel to move with just her thoughts or something. In that moment, everything in my mind just screamed, "Weirdo alert! Don't go near her!" But of course I ignored those thoughts and went up to her. Her eyes fluttered open when I stopped in front of her and she just looked up at me silently. "What are you doing?" I asked her curiously like the nosy teenager I was.

"Enjoying the moment." She spoke in a soft voice, in a tone that made it sound so obvious. I'll always remember the way she spoke those 'o's. Somehow, that girl managed to make them sound so hollow.

"Uh huh… Well whatever. You should be careful around here. More dangerouth than you would think. Ethpecially for someone like you." I then realized that the part of me that ashamed me the most had just been shown to her. That would have been my lisp. Although, her reaction surprised me. She didn't laugh or anything like that. Instead, she just perked up a bit and smiled a bit more.

"I'm Aradia Megido, by the way. I just moved into town. Also, what do you mean by especially someone like me?"

"Well, you know," I could feel my face getting redder the more she looked at me. "You're, like, pretty. Creepth tend to go after pretty girlth. Also, I'm Sollux Captor."

"Nice to meet you, Sollux." She didn't blush at all and instead just tilted her head slightly, confused. "I am? Thanks I guess."

"No problem." I swung my arms a bit, obviously nervous as I looked away from her. She just smiled though. That soft, small smile is actually the first thing that attracted me to her. I mean, sure, she was really pretty and all; long, dark, wavy hair that fell around her curvy shape and oval face in the best way, deep brown eyes that were more maroon than really any other colour, but that smile was just the prettiest thing I have ever seen. When she smiled, the whole world just seemed a little better, you know? It's amazing how much a young girl can change a troubled, young boy. With only three words, too. You want to know what those words are? Well, we'll get to that later. Back to the story now.

"Hey, you want to see something cool that I found, Sollux?" This caused me to raise an eyebrow in suspicion. Something cool? In the valley? Was this girl serious?

"Uh…sure?"

"Alright." She pushed off of the ground and took my hand, I was surprised to find that she was only a few inches shorter than me considering that she seemed to be a few years younger than me. Anyways, she walked me over to a spot where she had been digging for some strange reason and pointed down into the hole, smiling over at me. She let go of my hand and bent down on her hands and knees, peering over the edge of the hole. I joined her and looked down, surprised at what I saw; this girl, this…amazing, young, beautiful girl had found a fucking dinosaur skull. It was amazing.

"Woah. Cool. You found thith?"

"Yes." She smiled at me again. That is when I began to fall for her.


	3. Lies Made Her Safe

She had to go right after that. I barely got to talk to her that day but I returned to the spot that I had first met her for the next two weeks. Aradia didn't show up for any of those days. Even during a thunderstorm I went to the field, wanting to see her again. Finally, after one month, I saw her again. It was dark outside, around midnight, and she was sitting on a swing, slowly pushing off of the ground a bit and just swinging, letting the creaks from the chains fill the silent night. I can't quite remember why I was out there. I think I just couldn't sleep. I do remember that I was staring at the sky because of how many stars were in the sky but I looked down to see her when I heard the creaking. At first, I didn't think it was her. She was wearing a maroon hoodie and skirt with the same color boots and the hood was up over her head, hiding her hair and some of her face. That is, until it slipped off of her head and her hair tumbled down her back like a slow waterfall. I took a small, cautious step towards her and just watched her for a bit without saying anything. She was staring at the ground silently, pushing the swing back and forth as her hair lightly lifted off of her shirt and settled back down again. After a while, she smiled and turned her head, looking over at me. "You warned me about creeps and then decided to watch me from the shadows? How much more creepy can you get?"

"I…" I was stunned. I could barely speak. How was she able to tell whenever I was there? Especially that time, I was completely silent! That was never revealed to me. "Uh… Thorry?" That was the first time I heard her laugh. It was beautiful, really. I could compare it to something else but nothing can compare to how beautiful it was. Nothing in the entire universe. So let's just stick to beautiful, shall we?

"It's fine. There's a swing open if you would like to join me." She motioned to the empty swing next to her which I walked over to and sat in but just stayed still. Aradia noticed after a few moments. "Swings are for swinging, you know."

"I know, I jutht…" I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and looked at my feet. "Just… Where did you go for the month? You jutht thort of…dithappeared." Her smile fell after I said that, causing me to feel automatically guilty. She looked away from me. Not at the ground just away from _me._

"I…I was sick." She smiled at me again and even then I could tell that she was lying to me. Although, I didn't get mad or anything. After all, it was probably pretty serious if she needed to lie about it.

"Oh, alright. Tho anyways, what are you doing out here tho late, AA?" I offered her a small smile and slowly swung back and forth.

"So now I'm AA, huh? I like it. Oh, I was just bored. What about you, Sollux? What's your excuse?" I blushed way too often back then. So obviously, I blushed a bit more. Again. At least I finally managed to get that under control.

"I jutht couldn't thleep, that'th all."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Thadly. I've alwayth had a problem with getting to thleep. You probably wouldn't underthtand."

"Try me."

"No, I've told people before. They jutht call me inthane and run off."

"Well, Sollux Captor," She took my hand in hers and looked into my eyes, somehow locating them through my glasses, "I promise that I will not call you insane and run off." In that moment, right there in that small play ground, I felt like I could tell her anything and she would still treat me like this.

"I… I hear voices." Her smile faltered again. Did I say something wrong? She let go of the chain and held my hand tighter so I knew she wasn't going to leave but when she started to stand up off of the swing seat, I panicked a bit. What was she going to do? "Um… Wh-what'th wrong? Did I do thomething? I… I'm tho-" Before I could finish, she had her lips pressed against mine and her other hand around the back of my neck. They were soft, her lips were. It was amazing how soft they were. I never would have expected anyone's lips to be as soft as hers. Of course, nobody else's were.

"I have to go." She whispered after pulling away from the kiss. "See you later."

"Uh…" I watched her as she walked away, my usually pale face bright red and burning hot. "Thee you…" I felt something poking the palm of the hand that she had been holding and looked at the folded slip of paper in it. Unfolding it, I found what must have been her cell number scribbled onto the slip of paper in red ink with a "Call me!" written above it. When had she written that down, you ask? I have no idea. She just did that sometimes. "Oh." I shoved the slip into my jacket pocket and walked back to my house.


	4. Happy Birthday

When I got home, I automatically put her number in my phone and called her. "Well I see you found my gift." I could hear her smile through the phone. She was obviously shivering and cold or crying since I could hear the shaky breaths that she took.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, obviously worried as I laid down on my bed.

"I'm fine. Just walking." In the background, I could swear that I heard rushing water, like she was on a bridge above a river or something. At the time, I just shrugged it off to be nothing.

"Oh? I thought you had to go." I smirked a bit as I heard her quiet laugh.

"I'm walking home."

"Do you live over the river?"

"Um…" She paused a bit, filling the silence with the roaring sounds coming from the water. "Yes."

"Huh. Cool." I yawned a bit and stretched out on the bed, running a hand through my hair.

"Tired? It is late. I should let you go, anyways. Have good dreams."

"Yeah. Alright, you too. See you later?"

She answered by hanging up. I stared at the phone for a bit before falling asleep, waking up a few hours later from night terrors. Of course.

I didn't see her again for another two weeks, on my birthday was the next time. I was waiting for my mother and brother to get back home with my cake while I sat on the computer. Now I'm not going to tell you whether or not I was hacking into someone's computer but I just might have been. Anyways, it was around four or five when she rang the doorbell. I stood up and opened the door, not expecting to see the girl I had spent every day thinking about. She smiled and held a small box in her hands that was wrapped in blue and red paper. "Happy Birthday Sollux!"

"Uh… Thankth. Wait, how did you know?" I was fairly curious considering that we had only had two previous conversations, neither revealing the date of my birth.

"I know things." She shrugged and looked up at me. "So what are you doing for this special day?"

"Nothing really." I leaned against the door frame, smiling at her slightly. "My mom and brother are out getting cake. Then we're just gonna eat it and watch late night TV. Like every year."

"What? No presents? You aren't even going out or anything?" She shook her head in disapproval. "Well, that is going to change. Tonight," She grabbed my hand. "I am taking all of you out bowling."

"W-what? Why?"

"Because." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Bowling's fun."

"Um…okay?" Just then, my mother pulled into the driveway and climbed out of the car with the cake and my brother who happily walked over to us and poked my cheek. "Who's she?" He asked, pointing at Aradia who walked over to our mother and introduced herself.

"Hello Mrs. Captor. My name is Aradia Megido and I am taking you all out bowling for Sollux's birthday."


	5. Bowling

My mother was confused, of course. Wouldn't you be confused if some random girl just goes up to you and tells you, not asks you, tells you that she is taking you and your two sons out bowling for your youngest son's birthday when you know damn well that he doesn't have any friends? So yes, my confused mother just stood next to the open car door of her red minivan, holding an ice cream under one arm and her keys in her other hand staring at Aradia for five minutes before speaking, "What? Sorry, you are referring to…?" She pointed at me, an eyebrow raised under her bangs as she looked at Aradia curiously.

"Mom!" I leaned out of the door way a bit, staring at her in surprise as Aradia looked back at me and giggled a bit.

"Yes I do mean your son over there."

"What?!" Mother looked at between the two of us; my shocked and slightly angered face and her happy and joyful face while she held her own super surprised expression. "Are you two friends or something?"

"Um… Well…" She looked over at me and bit her bottom lip, getting some lipstick on her teeth, obviously remembering the kiss.

"Oh…" Mother recognized the look that the two of us shared and rested her hand down by her side. "Well, Aradia, there's no need to take us bowling. It's expensive and really, as much as we would like to, I have to decline."

"No, no! I insist! I have saved up money for years so I'm pretty sure I have enough for you all!"

After half an hour of begging her, my mom finally gave in and we went bowling. Here's the thing, though, Aradia didn't actually know how to bowl. She asked me to show her when we got there and of course, I did, blushing the whole way through. The reason I was blushing was because I did that thing that they always do in cheesy shows, movies, and music videos. You really just use it as an excuse to touch them. Well, at least most people do. I really just didn't know what else to do. When I sat back down, my face was bright red as I looked across from me at my mother and brother who were both staring at me and just grinning. I placed my face in my hands and waited for it to all be over. Eventually it was.

Hours later, we returned to my home where Aradia was invited inside for dinner and cake. She politely accepted and soon enough, we were in my room, sitting on my bed, waiting for dinner. "Tho… You made quite the imprethion on Mom."

"Did I? Well that's good, I guess." She smiled at me before leaning back on my bed and falling onto her back on it.

"Yeah. She liketh you." I looked over at her and smiled slightly before she pushed back off of the bed and calmly walked out of my bedroom. "Um… AA?" She quickly walked back in and handed me the box from before.

"Your gift. You never opened it."

"Oh. Right, thankth." I took it from her and ripped the paper off of it before opening up the small box and looking inside at the small object. "Oh gosh…" I looked back up at her and she tilted her head, smiling at me curiously.

"Do you like it? I don't know you very well so I didn't know what you like. It's supposed to make a rainbow when the sun hits it. Thought it was pretty neat."

"Yeah…" I looked back down at it and took it out of the box, letting it dangle from the string I held in my fingers, watching it spin around slowly. After a few moments, she took it out of my hand and hung it right in front of the window.

"There. Now it will work." I watched her silently as she sat back down next to me and flopped down on her back, smiling up at the ceiling.

"Hey… Aradia?" I had a question that needed an answer soon.

"Yeah?" She looked over at me curiously and clicked her heels together a few times as I spoke.

"Do you want to…maybe…go on a date with me sometime?" She blushed a bit before sitting up and staring at me for a few moments.

"Really?" She seemed surprised that I had asked.

"Y-yeah."

"Of course I do!" She knocked me onto my back on the bed with a hug, smiling from ear to ear and blushing furiously.


	6. Blood Red

Let's skip ahead to the date, shall we? Well, actually, in case you wanted to know what happened next for some reason, we really just ate and watched television until Aradia fell asleep in my lap. When I woke up early the next morning, she was gone. I didn't see her again until the date, although we did talk on the phone until one of us fell asleep on the other end. It might seem a bit creepy but when she fell asleep on the other end I would just listen to her breathing until I, myself, dozed off.

It was a few hours before our date when reality started to sink in and I began asking myself a million questions. What should I wear? Should I buy her flowers? Was I going to pick her up? Eventually, the doorbell rang and I was in regular jeans and a red shirt with a yellow hoodie over it. I opened the door quickly, seeing her. She was wearing a maroon dress that hang loosely around her knees, moving in the gentle breeze. Her wavy hair was tied in loose, red and blue ribbons. "H-hi!" She said nervously, smiling at me with shimmering lips.

"Um, hey. I…" I paused, just staring at her again.

"You? You what?" She tilted her head curiously. You have no idea how adorable she was whenever she did.

"I feel underdressed." I chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of my neck, glancing behind her at the small car holding a smoking young girl, obviously older than them, who smiled at him, flicked the cigarette out the window and sped away.

"My sister, Damara." Aradia said, following my gaze.

"Oh, I see." I looked back at the girl in front of me and laughed a bit at her hair ties. "What's up with the red and blue?" I asked, tugging on one of the ribbon, accidentally touching the side of her face and catching her attention.

"Oh… I, um…" She blushed a bit, looking at her feet, causing me to take my hand away from her. "Well, they're your favourite colours, right? Aside from yellow." She smiled at me a bit, nervously.

"Yeah. How did you…?" She bit her bottom lip and looked away again before taking my hand and looking up into my eyes.

"Let's just go."

"Um… Yeah, alright. Let's go." I lightly pushed her waist and off we went to the movie theatre. I can barely remember what happened, really, although one thing I do remember is seeing a blood red flower, pointing to something behind her, and, when she turned back around all confused, I offered her the flower. She smiled and giggled and I swear I could see tears forming in her eyes as she hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me before whispering in her ear, "I think I'm in love with you." I felt her shaking and heard her choke up as my shoulder got slightly wet. "H-hey. You alright?" I pulled away and looked down at her, wiping the tears from her eyes and holding her face in my hands. She looked up at me, smiling as tears streaked down her face. Before I knew what was happening, my lips had met with hers and rain had started to fall on us. It was probably the most romantic thing I had ever and ever will be a participant of. She pulled away and looked up at me, her tears replaced with tear drops.

"I love you." Those were the three best words I had ever heard in my life. Especially from her. It's hard to explain, but I'll just say that she said it in a way that made it sound like the sweetest thing in the world. Although, they were not the three words that had changed my life. Sorry to disappoint, but our story's not done with just yet.


	7. Fresh Scars

After standing in the middle of the sidewalk doing nothing but holding each other and kissing as the rain poured down on us for a few minutes, she pulled away and grabbed my hand silently, leading me around the corner before stopping in front of a house. It was a fairly large house. Three stories, I think. There were four windows on every floor, each in the middle of each wall. In the front, roses, lilies and poppies grew brightly. It was all topped off with a bright, white picket fence bordering the lawn. "Wanna come in for a bit?" She smiled over at me, causing me to smile back and nod.

I remember as if it were just yesterday. We were in her room, on her bed and her lips were pressed against mine while soft music played from her radio. I could feel her heart rapidly beating against my chest as mine did the same. Her bare back was silky smooth under my fingertips as I traced small circles over it. I shivered at the touch of her cold hands on my bare chest and the feeling of her warm breath on my chapped lips. We stared into each other's eyes as her dark hair tickled my shoulders. I thought I saw something move out of the corner out of my but ignored it and after a few moments heard someone whistle. Aradia instantly sat up and glared at the three people standing in the doorway. One of the girls was obviously her sister, Damara, then there was a boy in a red sweater who was facing the other direction and covering his eyes while another girl in a black dress with tattoos up her arms and legs patted his back lightly, in a comforting way. The intoxicating smell of cigarette smoke drifted into the room as her sister spoke while smirking. "Oops."

"G-get the hell out, Damara!" I looked up to see Aradia's bright red face fill with anger. She through an object at the door which caused the older girl to laugh and shut it silently. Aradia looked down at me, almost shocked, and stepped off of the bed, putting on a shirt and telling me to leave. "Go!" She yelled at me, throwing my clothes at me and pointing at the door. "Leave!"

"Why?" I asked as I put on my shirt and pants. "Is everything alright?"

"Please, just go!" She shoved me out the door and slammed it shut in my face. Best date ever. I pressed my ear against the door and swore that I could hear her crying. I left her alone that night and walked to my house.

A few silent months later, I found out that she was suicidal and had attempted again that night. I went to see her at the hospital and, as I sat beside her bed, waiting for her to awake from her slumber, I traced circles on her hand and bowed my head. That is, until I heard her soft voice. "Hi Sollux."

"Hey." I looked up to see her smiling at me. My eyes watered and I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "Please don't ever leave."

"Alright. I can try." She laughed a bit and held my hand tighter.

"One more thing." I said, letting her hand go and reaching inside my pocket for her gift. "Happy Birthday." Her eyes lit up as she took the gift from me and opened it. Inside was an Aries necklace with maroon and blue gems on the sign. She put it on and looked over at me, meeting my eyes before kissing me softly.

"Thank you so much." I heard her mumble in my ear before leaning back in the bed again and drifting off after a few moments. I sat next to her again, crying as I traced the fresh scars up and down her arms until a nurse asked me to leave.


	8. Infinity

Okay, so I know that I'm most likely boring you with all of this. Let's skip ahead a few months, shall we? So, it's winter of 2008 and we're having a Christmas party. Our 10 friends are all huddled around the roaring fireplace as Aradia takes the pie out of the oven. I remember Aradia standing up and looking over at me at she put some whipped cream on the pie decoratively. I swallowed nervously, hand tightly clasped around the small box in my jacket pocket. I felt a small drop of liquid trickle down the back of my neck, most likely nervous sweat. We had known each other for a year and I knew that this was the time to do it. Just the perfect moment, what with the blizzard outside the door and all of our closest friends just huddled together around the fireplace next to the Christmas tree.

She stepped out into the living room, smiling as she set down the pie and just about everyone jumped up, running over to the delicious scent. I swallowed once, nervously and tapped her shoulder. As she turned around, I walked in front of her and knelt down on one knee. When Aradia looked back at me and saw the box in my hand, her hand flew to her face, covering her mouth as her eyes slowly started to tear up. I smiled up at her and started my whole speech. "I was lost before I found you, Aradia Megido. All I knew was a world of pain, suffering, and hate. I can't believe that the one person who could ever show me something entirely different was the weird girl that sat alone in the middle of a field….meditating? I think that's what you were doing." She laughed through her tears and wiped her eyes before I continued. "Anyways, I love you so much and I… I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Aradia Megido, will you," I opened up the small, velvet box, revealing a beautiful ring with an infinity sign on it on which small diamonds traced around the edges. "marry me?" I watched as tears fell down her face and she nodded over and over again, smiling widely and happily.

"Yes. Just yes." She managed to say before I slipped the ring onto her finger, causing her to step forward and hug me tightly. The room was quiet for a few moments before everyone started clapping. After that, we decided to finish our meal.

It was late at night when our other friends had all left and the two of us sat in front of the fire place on our backs, holding hands right above our heads. "Hey, so, I've been thinking." I heard her say softly as she rolled onto her stomach.

"Uh oh. That's never a good sign." I replied sarcastically, rolling onto my own stomach so I could face her.

"Shut up." Aradia said, punching my arm lightly and laughing a bit. "Anyways, I was thinking that…well, maybe we should move in together?" She smiled sheepishly and blushed a bit, looking away from me and at the roaring fire.

"I would love to. Waking up next to you every morning would be a dream come true." She looked back at me as I brushed a lock of her curly hair behind her ear and leaned into, brushing my lips against hers softly.

"I love you." She whispered into my lips before kissing me back.


	9. Together At Last

"So when exactly am I going to meet her? Does she even exist?" My light haired father asked as he shoved boxes of my things into the back of his pickup truck. I rolled my eyes as I answered him with an annoyed tone in my voice. You see, he had been asking me those same questions for the past few days ever since I told my parents about moving in with Aradia.

"She's gonna be here in a few minutes to help out, God. Patience is a virtue, ya know." My father shrugged before walking into the house to get more boxes, leaving me leaning against the car, taking a sip from my can of beer.

"Sollux!" The familiar voice made my lips twitch into a smile as I opened up my arms to the most beautiful girl on earth running towards me, a smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around me happily and almost knocked me over as she kissed me.

"Okay, so maybe she is real." I felt Aradia push off of me a bit and walk over to my father as he spoke.

"Yes, I'm your son's fiancé, Aradia. Pleasure to meet you Mr. Captor. Oh, here, allow me to help me that." She smiled as she took a box from his arms and put it into the back of her car. Dad looked over at me and nodded approvingly, giving me a thumbs up.

"Dad…" I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Sollux…" He grumbled back, copying my movements from before. "Is that all, dear?" My mother poked her head out of the door and nodded, eyes teary as she looked over at me.

"I'm going to miss you Sollux. You take great care and treat her well, alright?" My mother looked pretty worried as she hugged me tightly, Father joining in.

"Yeah, I promise. Now can you let me go?" Eventually, they did, leaving the two of us to drive off in our cars. About twenty minutes later, we reached the house. It was pretty inexpensive, cozy and in a nice neighborhood. I liked it, honestly. I still do. When we stepped inside, she tied her hair up and decided we should do some unpacking. Finally, after a few hours, we had everything unpacked and put away. It was around nine or ten so we cooked up some dinner. Okay, maybe we just ordered some cheese pizza and watched television. It was great, honestly, having her cuddled up next to me on the sofa as we watched her favourite movies with the lights dimmed down low. As we went to bed together at night, I could tell that I was going to enjoy living together with this woman.


	10. Til Death Do Us Part

"It's called life, get used to it. At least you get to marry the girl of your dreams." Backdoor complaining. That's what Karkat was doing while trying to make me less nervous. "Seriously? Just leave TZ and NP alone about that, will ya?" He had had some romance issues in the past that he would never shut up about.

"Sollux! It's starting." My mother poked her head through the doorway of the room I was in, telling me to get my ass out there. So that's what I did. My heart was racing as the music started and I watched the flower girls, bride's maids, ring bearers walk down the aisle. Then came Aradia, the most gorgeous girl ever. I couldn't really see her face, it being covered by her white veil, but I knew she was smiling. When she reached the altar and the music stopped, her father lifted her veil, kissing her on the cheek before handing her off to me, sitting back down in his seat. Soon, we were muttering "I do" and, eventually, kissing. Her foot slightly raised, my arm around her waist and pulling her close to me, dipping her slightly with her arm wrapped tightly around the back of my neck as everyone applauded loudly.

Then, we were cutting the cake, Nepeta and Equius fiddled with the bride and groom figurines as the raspberry filling poured out of the cake, staining the knife and a small spot on Aradia's white dress. It made us laugh, soon being replaced by muffled laughter as we both shoved the lemon, raspberry cake into each other's mouths.

Hours of talking to family members and friends, dancing and talking and dancing and talking and eating, Feferi catching the bouquet and more talking passed by in the blink of an eye and soon she was in my arms, bridal style of course, as I carried her through our front door, laughing drunkenly the whole way to our bed with her.

The next morning I awoke under the warm covers against my bare skin and smelling the sweet scent of waffles and bacon mixing with the sound of Aradia's humming drifting in through the open doorway leading to the kitchen. So, I slipped on a pair of boxers and walked out, resting my hands on her waist and lightly kissing her neck, whispering softly into her ear, "Good morning Mrs. Captor," to which she smiled, turned slightly to kiss me and replied with "Good morning Mr. Captor." Then she laughed a bit before sliding out of my loose grip to sit on the counter and cross her legs under the button up shirt she had on, having taken it away from me earlier. "I sound like I'm addressing your father when I say that. I think I'll continue calling you Sollux. Don't worry, though. I won't start calling you my little honey bunch of oats or anything. Okay maybe I actually will call you that, it kinda amuses me a bit. Oh and also breakfast is ready." Then, we ate it. It wasn't Honey Bunches of Oats or anything but it was still pretty good.

"I love you, Aradia." I couldn't stop saying it, I didn't know why, I just couldn't. She looked up at me, smiling softly and replied in a small voice.

"I love you too, Sollux."


	11. The Big Mistake

Let's skip ahead a few weeks to what I call "My Big Mistake." Aradia had to visit her mom and sister for a few weeks since her mother had gotten ill and Damara needed help caring for her. So, the first night she was gone, I was sitting in the living room, watching a movie when the doorbell rang. I walked over and opened it to find Feferi just hanging out and smiling at me. "Oh, hey FF."

"Hi, Sollux! I heard Aradia was gone for a bit and, since most of the guys in our little group don't know how to take care of themselves, I thought I'd make you dinner or something!" So, we ate and watched a movie together and, before I could register anything, we were kissing on the sofa, soon moving to the bed where shit happened. The next day, I woke up naked in my bed alone. The only evidence that Feferi had even been there was the lingering scent of her ocean perfume a few stray red hairs.

When Aradia found out, boy was she pissed. "I…I don't want to hear anymore of your fucking excuses, Sollux! You did what you did, now take the fucking ring and get out!" She yanked the ring off of her finger and threw both that and a packed suitcase at me before slamming the door shut in my face.

"Well, did you seriously expect her to not find out? How idiotic can you get?" Karkat really had a way with words.

"I didn't mean any of it, though. I still love Aradia, I was just lonely and…ugh!" A few pats on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it! Just, I can't let you stay with me tonight, sorry." Then yet another door was slammed in my face. Of course. How about we just skim over what happened next.

"You wwhat?!" "I can't believe you did that to purr!" "I am e%remely disappointed." "I Am Not Letting You Come In." "Aha. Aaaaaaaahahahaha!" "cAN YOU NOT"

"Sorry…" That last one, that was what I needed to hear. It was from Feferi, of course, and she let me spend the night. We watched movies together before dozing off. In the morning, however, she kicked me out and told me to go back to Aradia and apologize. Of course, she was also yelling at me. So, I went back to Aradia, and it took some time but eventually I calmed her down and we were once again a happy couple, watching movies together and falling asleep in each other's arms.

I hadn't known at the time, but I had just done something that'd trigger something that would change all of our lives forever.


	12. The Three Words

"I'm…pregnant." I looked up from my video game, eyes wide as she spoke. "I got the test results back and it's positive, we're having a baby!" Her eyes were shining, filling up with tears as we both smiled and ran into each other's arms.

"That's great!" I held her face in my hands and kissed her lightly, smiling widely. "I love you, so, so much." I whispered into her hair, holding her close as she whispered back.

"Okay."

From then on, I would always see her holding her stomach and smiling, sometimes I would come home and here her whispering to it. Soon, about a month afterwards, I had to go on a business trip.

"I'm sorry, Aradia. I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Yeah, don't worry, it's fine, I understand. Just go do your job and bring back money." We kissed goodbye at the door, and then I went into the cab. "I forgot my keys. Of course." Finally, I got to the hotel and very business-ey things happened. Oh, and no, I did not cheat on her again. Everything was sorta mundane. I'd get up, eat, wish I was home, do business things, talk to Aradia, eat, sleep. One evening, after I had just gotten off the phone with Aradia and was eating dinner and watching some bad reality TV show, I got a call. Karkat. "what do you want?"

"Get over here, now. I'm not joking." He sounded panicked, that was never good.

"Woah, calm down. What happened."

"It's Aradia." Well that caused me to sit right the fuck up.

"What about her?" My tone had changed.

"I don't know. She sent everyone a weird message, saying she was sorry for what she was about to do. Now she won't answer her phone and the door of your house is locked and the lights are off and I don't know man I just don't know." Oh, hey, remember how she's suicidal? Yeah…

"Alright. Just yell through the door or something, I'll be there in five minutes." I ran a hand through my hair before hanging up. As soon as I did so, I grabbed my bags and basically flew out the window, hotwiring some poor soul's car but leaving a note in the parking space explaining why and where to pick it up again.

I actually got there in six minutes but it still pretty good for a twenty minute drive. I speeded. Loads. Switched lanes all that. Almost hit trucks blah blah blah. Anyways, Aradia. So when I got to the door, it was locked. Finally, I managed to kick it open and, when I did, everything grew silent. Finally, I heard a noise.

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Oh, God. No. No, no, no." I followed the noise before arriving at the bathroom door. It was open a crack and the light was on. I opened it and…

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Sollux?"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Yes, Aradia, I'm here." I go closer to her, lift her out of the bathtub, now clouded red, and hold her close.

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Sollux…I…"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Don't worry, Aradia, help is on the way."

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"I want you to know something, Sollux…"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Yes?"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"I forgive you…"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Aradia? What do you mean?"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Aradia! Why won't you answer?"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

"Aradia!"

_Drip…Drip…Drip…_

_Drip…Drip…_

_Drip…_


	13. Epilogue: All a dream

"And, that's how it ended. Even though I wanted her to, Aradia never came back. I never got to see my baby. I never got to kiss her again. But, a few years passed and I started dating someone else. We never got over that girl but sometimes you just have to try to forget. It's hard, but you can do it." Sollux straightened up again, looking at the man across from him with now full notebooks.

"So…What is this, anyways? What have you two been up to over here?" Feferi walked out to them with glasses of lemonade and handed the juice to them, smiling brightly and sitting next to Sollux on the sofa. "You've been in here for hours."

"Oh, he wanted to know about Aradia and me for like a book he's writing or something like that."

"She was really nice." Feferi chimed in, smiling sweetly at the author before slightly leaning into Sollux, the light catching on the diamonds around the infinity sign on her engagement ring. The author noticed that and frowned slightly before closing the notebooks and getting up, thanking them, before leaving.

As soon as the man left, the couple laughed, smiling at each other before kissing. "Do you think he's actually going to write the book about you and Aradia?"

"I do. He seemed to like the story."

"Everyone likes your stories, especially ones you make up."

"I didn't make it up, technically."

"Right, right, you dreamt it all."

"I did!"

"Well, alright, Sollux. Forget about your dream girl for a second and have dinner with me, will you?"

"Alright, alright. I love you."

"I love you, too."


End file.
